The Hauser Diet For Adrenal Insufficiency

STRESSED OUT?

Do you always feel fatigued? Are you overwhelmingly stressed? Do you suffer from frequent illness, anxiety, or poor concentration? These are all signs of adrenal fatigue and by eating properly you could alleviate some of your symptoms.

Your adrenal gland produces a hormone called cortisol that helps you deal with stress, as well as wake up in the morning and go to bed at night. When this hormone is used up, your body has a harder time dealing with stress. The natural production of cortisol by the adrenal gland is as follows: cortisol levels should rise in the morning when you wake up and decline in the evening when you go to bed. If your cortisol does not rise in the morning when it is supposed to rise, you probably have a terribly hard time getting up in the morning. If your levels are low during the day, you may be the type to need an afternoon nap or the one struggling at 2pm to stay awake at work.

WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF AN ADRENAL INSUFFICIENCY OR LOW CORTISOL LEVELS?

An adrenal insufficiency usually makes a person feel weak, dizzy, and tired when lying down or when standing up after sitting. Other findings may be: darkening skin, black freckles on the forehead, face and shoulders, weight loss, dehydration, appetite loss, muscle aches, vomiting, itchy eyes and a runny nose, skin rashes, a low resistance to infection, and nausea and diarrhea. In serious cases, cold becomes intolerable.

Conventional medical treatments may help relieve the symptoms of an adrenal insufficiency, but they do not address the root of the problem. By addressing imbalances in the body, as natural medicine treatments do, an adrenal insufficiency may be alleviated permanently.

Hypoglycemia

If you suffer from adrenal fatigue, which means the ability of your adrenal glands to carry out their normal functions has decreased, usually due to over stimulation, you may also tend to be hypoglycemic. In order for hypoglycemia to be diagnosed, our doctors typically run a Modified Glucose Tolerance Test. If you took the testing one step further and received the whole Diet Typing package (additional pH testing and nutritional evaluation), many people with hypoglycemia tend to type out as a Otters or Lions on the Hauser Diet scale.

Hypoglycemia can cause a person to feel tired and consistently hungry. The combination of low energy and high hunger is not a good one for losing weight or maintaining health. Although a person suffering from this may also need to be on a supplement program to help the adrenal glands, incorporating the right foods and eliminating the wrong ones can provide huge benefits. When weÔÇÖre tired, sugary foods and caffeine are the usual choices we grab for a quick “pick me up”. However, these are the worst possible choices for a person with adrenal fatigue. Below is a list of foods to choose, foods to avoid, and why to do so.

Here are some Foods To Avoid

Foods to Avoid

Foods to Choose

Coffee: contains caffeine which will
stimulate your adrenal gland even more

Foods high in protein: will help stabilize blood sugars

Fruit: contains sugar, it may be natural
sugars, but sugar is sugar in this case. Especially try to eliminate
from breakfast when blood sugars tend to be their lowest

Natural/Organic foods: will decrease the amount of toxins the body
has to handle

White flour products: will increase
hypoglycemia

High fiber foods: can help alleviate constipation which can occur
during stress

Soda: contains caffeine
and unnatural substances, as well as sugar

Complex Carbohydrates: are a better carbohydrate choice for blood
sugar stabilization, try to pair it up with a protein source

Chocolate: also contains caffeine and
sugar!

Bright colored vegetables: great source of antioxidants

DOES THIS SOUND LIKE YOU?

If you feel tired ÔÇô just really really tired ÔÇô it could be related to low adrenal function. You need a comprehensive natural medicine evaluation by Dr. Hauser so he can help you figure out what is going on! Often we order a hormone panel that includes checking cortisol levels throughout the day. We also do Diet Typing because we find patients who are suffering from adrenal exhaustion will produce what we call a “flat line” curve when they get Diet Typing. This means that the body is barely able to mount any kind of reaction to the glucose drink given at the start of Diet Typing. The body is completely worn out. These people need extreme dietary changes and are often put on the Lion (or sometimes the Otter) Diet during this time. But it depends on the individual response, of course. Sometimes we also supplement with the natural Cortisol hormone (by prescription) to help rest the gland and restore your adrenal system. Additional herbal supplements help restore the bodyÔÇÖs adrenal function as well. Changes in lifestyle also have to be made, including stress reduction, gradual introduction of an exercise program, and diet. This will help give you back your energy, hence relieving the resultant anxiety that often accompanies it.

By incorporating the right foods into your diet you can not only improve your adrenal fatigue, you can also see an improvement in your overall health. Although many of the “foods to avoid” are not typically recommended on any of the Hauser Diets, it is important for a person suffering from adrenal fatigue to know why they specifically should not eat them! As previously stated, diet alone may not be the answer to adrenal fatigue.

If you think you may suffer from adrenal fatigue, give us a call to make an appointment to get Hauser Diet Typing! We look forward to helping you get back to having a normal active life so that you can do the things you wish to do!

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